Series: Women of the Otherworld #7
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Age Group: Adult
Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance
Elements: Necromancers, Werewolves, Ghosts, Witches, Demons, Sorcerers, Angels
Publisher: Bantam
Format: Mass Market Paperback
ISBN-13: 978-0553588378
Published: February 26th, 2008
Source: Library
Events: Women of the Otherworld Series Challenge
Rating: 5/5 STARS
Series Reviews: Bitten | Stolen | Dime Store Magic | Industrial Magic | Haunted | Broken
Purchase: Kindle | Paperback
It's the most anticipated reality television event of the season: three spiritualists gathered together in one house to raise the ghost of Marilyn Monroe. For celebrity medium Jaime Vegas, it's her best shot at the celebrity holy grail: a TV show of her own. Because, unlike her colleagues, who are more style than substance, Jaime is the real thing.
Yet reluctant to upstage her fellow spiritualists, Jaime supresses her talents, as she has always done. But something is lurking in the gardens behind the house: trapped spirits without a voice. And for the first time, Jaime understands what it means to be haunted. When events culminate in a psychic showdown, she must use her darkest power to defeat a shocking enemy--one whose force comes from the last realm she expected....
No Humans Involved begins with a young man named Brendon, who left home to make it as an actor in L.A. Walking the streets at night, Brendon is picked up by a couple who seem to want to give him food and a warm place for the night. But while in their home, he overhears them talking about texts, rituals, and the amount of suffering needed. When Brendan tells them that he wants to leave, the woman drugs him and the group proceeds to set him on fire.
This is the first of many glimpses we have into this group and their atrocious rituals. This group first came to Jaime's attention when a ghost made physical contact with her on the set of a reality TV show she's taking part in. These ghosts have damaged souls that are trapped between dimensions, unable to step into ours or cross over into the other. It doesn't take Jaime long to realize by the ghosts actions that these are the ghosts of children.
Jaime's search for this group overshadows the whole reality show things, as we only really see anything from the set in between the events of Jaime's investigation. She has help from Jeremy Danvers, alpha of the werewolf Pack; Eve Levine and Kristof Nast; eudemon Aratron; and half-demon Hope Adams. Everyone (well, not Aratron) on this team is outraged that this group would kill innocent children for its rituals and in such horrible ways, and this makes them the perfect people to bring this group down.
Aside from Jaime's investigation, we are shown pieces of her past and Jeremy's as well. We learn of Jaime's relationship (or lack thereof) with her mother and the pressures she put on Jaime to make it on TV. Aratron brings up the deal she made with a demon in the past to become famous. Jeremy's past with his father is brought up, how Jeremy had to clean up his father's kills, and how his father tried to mold Clay into the son he always wanted the Jeremy wasn't. There was definitely no love lost between them. There is also the interesting little tidbit about the runes that pop into his head, as well as the visions and sensing no normal werewolf has--Jaime believes these came from his mother. Though we are given these little snippets into their respective pasts, there is still enough mystery surrounding Jaime ans Jeremy to keep it interesting.
If you've read the previous books in the Women of the Otherworld series, you know that Jaime's got it bad for Jeremy. It's been 4 years since they first met and Jeremy is finally showing interest. But Jaime isn't going to give him what he wants without having a little fun first. Jaime has waited 4 years for Jeremy to take notice, so she makes him wait for it and performs a little tease to get him all wound up. Jaime ans Jeremy totally work as a couple and it was great to finally see them together. Jaime can be a firecracker when she wants to be ans Jeremy's reserve off-sets that perfectly. They aren't together for very long in No Humans Involved, but I'm definitely left wanting to see more between them.
Like with Haunted, Eve's story, it was great reading Jaime's story in No Humans Involved and getting better insight into her character. The next book in the series is Hope's story. What little we learn of her in this book has left me curious to learn more about her in Personal Demon.
Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers' dismay. All efforts to make her produce "normal" stories failed.
Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She's the author of the NYT-bestselling "Women of the Otherworld" paranormal suspense series and "Darkest Powers" young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.
Disclaimer: This review was originally posted in 2012 to my book blogs, Zodiac Book Reviews and A Bibliophiles Thoughts on Books.
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